Courses
SEMESTER II, SPRING 2014
Primarily for Undergraduates
GRMN0200 Beginning German
Jane Sokolosky
A course in the language and cultures of German-speaking countries. Four
hours per week plus regular computer and listening comprehension work.
At the end of the year, students will be able to communicate
successfully about everyday topics and participate in the annual film
festival. This is the second half of a year-long course. Students must
have taken GRMN 0100 to receive credit for this course. The final grade
for this course will become the final grade for GRMN 0100. If GRMN 0100
was taken for credit then this course must be taken for credit; if taken
as an audit, this course must also be taken as an audit. Exceptions to
this policy must be approved by both the academic department and the
Committee on Academic Standing.
CRN 23625 S01 MWF 11:00-11:50 & Tu 12:00-12:50
CRN 23642 S02 MWF 12:00-12:50 & Tu 12:00-12:50
CRN 23643 S03 MWF 1:00-1:50 & Tu 12:00-12:50
GRMN0400 Intermediate German II
Jane Sokolosky
An intermediate German course that stresses improvement of the four
language skills. Students read short stories and a novel; screen one
film; maintain a blog in German. Topics include German art, history,
and literature. Frequent writing assignments. Grammar review as needed.
Four hours per week. Recommended prerequisite: GRMN 0300. WRIT
CRN 23644
S01 MWF 10:00 -10:50 & Th
12:00 - 12:50
CRN 23645 S02 MWF 1:00-1:50 & Th 12:00-12:50
GRMN0600B Was ist Deutsch?
Thomas Kniesche
In this course we will examine some of the ideas and myths that became
entangled with the emerging notion of a "German" identity in the
eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Some of the terms that we will
discuss include 'Kultur,' 'Bildung', 'Freiheit' and 'Gesellschaft,' all
of which have rich semantic histories. Conducted in German. Recommended
prerequisite: one course in the GRMN 0500 series. WRIT
CRN24188 S01 MWF 2:00 - 2:50
GRMN0750E Reading Film: An Introduction to German Cinema
Zachary Sng
What is it that fascinates us about cinema?
What desires and drives have held us in thrall to the moving image? This
seminar introduces you to writing about film, not just within the
specific field of media studies but within the humanities as a whole. We
will examine 12 filmic examples (ranging from early silent film to
contemporary popular cinema) alongside a selection of theoretical and
historical readings. The course will impart the basic skills needed to
write in a critical, reflective, and rigorous way about film. For those
interested in film in the context of any humanities field. FYS.
CRN 23988 TuTh 1:00-2:20
GRMN1200B Thinking Friendship, from Plato to Derrida
Gerhard Richter
How have the concept and experience of friendship been construed in the
Western intellectual traditions? What are the implications of dividing
one's personal, cultural, and political world into friends and enemies?
What is the relation between friendship and questions of community,
hospitality, war, and the work of mourning? To what extent are our
so-called social networking services the end of friendship? We will gain
a grounding in the history and theory of friendship through close and
caring readings of writers such as Plato, Aristotle, Cicero, Montaigne,
Kant, Emerson, Nietzsche, Freud, Heidegger, Schmitt, Blanchot, Levinas,
Nancy, and Derrida. Taught in English. Enrollment limited to 25.
CRN 24500 S01 W 3:00-5:20
GRMN1440P Heroes, Failures and Other Peculiar Characters-The German Novel from Goethe to Kafka
Susan Bernstein
Readings in the tradition of the German novel, including the
Bildungsroman, Realism and modernist fiction. Consideration especially
of failed heroes and the failure of the novel genre. Authors include
Goethe, Hoelderlin, Novalis, Stifter, Fontane, Musil and Kafka. Readings
and class discussions in English.
CRN 23930 S01 MWF 1:00-1:50
GRMN1700A Introduction to Yiddish Culture and Language
Rachel Rojanski
Yiddish was the language spoken by most Jews in Eastern Europe and the
countries to which they emigrated (including the U.S., England, South
Africa, South American countries, and Israel) from the nineteenth
century until after the Holocaust. It was the basis for a transnational
Jewish culture and literature, and it played a central role in modern
Jewish political life. We will explore the history of Yiddish culture
and the development of the Yiddish press, literature, and cinema. The
connection between Yiddish and modern Jewish politics will also be
discussed. Students in the course will also have the opportunity to
develop a basic knowledge of the Yiddish language.
CRN 25043 S01 Th 4:00-6:20
[Cross-listed with Judaic Studies. Interested students should register for JUDS1713.]
GRMN1900F Berlin gestern und heute
Thomas Kniesche
Berlin looks back on an "interesting" history: from local Prussian
backwater to metropolis, from capital of early 20th century culture to
center of the "Third Reich," and from a symbol of German imperialism and
militarism to the capital of the New Berlin Republic. This seminar sets
out to explore some of the history of this city in art, architecture,
film and literature, from the 18th century to the present. In German.
Prerequisite: GRMN 0600.
CRN 23430 S01 MWF 10:00-10:50
Primarily for Graduate Students
GRMN2320E Political Romanticism
Zachary Sng/William Keach
What, if anything, is political about Romanticism? We will read the
literary and non-literary writings of British and German romantic
authors, with a focus on their complex relationship to political ideas,
political practice, and the very concept of "the political." We will
also consider why the question of Romanticism's relationship to politics
has been re-visited with such insistency in the 20th century. Authors
include W. Wordsworth, P. B. Shelley, Coleridge, Friedrich Schlegel,
Novalis, and Kleist. All readings and discussions in English.
CRN 24189 S01 T 4:00-6:20
GRMN2660Q Freud and Lacan
Ravit Reichman
Examines the foundations of psychoanalysis through Freud's and Lacan's
writings. We will engage critically with their founding principles,
reading practices, literariness, and ethics. Texts include Freud's Interpretation of Dreams, Beyond the Pleasure Principle, Dora, and a range of case histories and papers, and Lacan's Ecrits, Four Fundamental Concepts of Psychoanalysis, and the seminars, particularly Book VII: The Ethics of Psychoanalysis. Enrollment limited to 15 graduate students.
CRN 24450 S01 Th 4:00-6:20
[Cross-listed with the English Department. Interested students should register for ENGL2900T.]
*NEW COURSE
GRMN2660R Articulations of Revolution
Kristina Mendicino
How is revolution articulated? The word "re-volution" implies a turning-again. Revolution, however, is also scanned in many registers during the age of the French Revolution by a rhetoric of cutting, interrupting, and disjoining.Turning to the tropes of the turn and the cut for orientation, this seminar will examine the articulations of revolution – the ways in which it is spoken, jointed, and disjointed – in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, as well as the consequences of tropes and articulation for revolution. Readings include works by Rousseau, de Sade, Fichte, Hölderlin, Hegel, Kleist, Büchner, and Marx.
CRN TBA S01 M 3:00-5:20
